Life after PANDA: 5 Ways Duplicate Product Content is Hurting your Online Sales

GeekSpeak[commerce]    www.thinkgeekspeak.com

Search engines rule when it comes to whether an ecommerce web site thrives or dies. As an online retailer you know that search engine optimization is vitally important. If your site doesn't show up top-ranked on Google, Bing or Yahoo! you're losing thousands of dollars in sales while consumers go to your competitors.

Good product copy not only catches and holds the attention of a consumer looking to buy, but it can mean the difference between a search engine’s ranking algorithm giving you a "thumbs up" or the proverbial "Google slap" and sending you to the bottom of the pile. The Panda and subsequent Penguin updates by Google aim to ensure high quality and unique search results.

Duplicate product content is copy that has been repurposed from somewhere else. Whether it's a manufacturer's routine product description or recycled catalogue copy that has already appeared on your site, old content is flagged by Google and other search engines as low quality. This means your product pages are not highly ranked in search results.

For the search engine providers to be successful in generating their own revenues they must continually serve up relevant results   that provide value to their visitors.  Therefore, they've ensured crawlers are capable of discerning between sites that are continually updated and sites that rehash trite copy lacking any consumer interest.

Content that is bland, poorly written, contains phrases repeated elsewhere on the web, or provides very little information serves little benefit to your website conversion objectives. That's why all the major search engines reward unique and fresh content with higher ranking scores. So does the marketplace. Customers vote with their clicks and ultimately, their dollars.

If you're not paying attention to the quality content that represents you in the marketplace you are hurting your sales and wasting any SEO dollars you are spending. In a bricks and mortar analogy, you might just as well have an empty shop window.

Why 360 degree product photos improve online sales.

 Online shoppers are looking for a visually stimulating and interactive shopping experience. Simple two dimensional product images do little to entice and drive visitors to complete a purchase. There are broad numbers of retail (electronics, furnishings, etc.) categories that require an extensive amount of written and visual product information to ensure buyer confidence. A buyer’s on-line shopping experience should emulate their in-store experience. 360 degree product photography is very effective way to engage and give savvy shoppers enhanced product content. 

By presenting a product with multiple views and angles, a prospective online buyer gets a richer and more visual interaction with a product.  This experience is analogous to picking up the actual product at a brick-and mortar store in their hands and moving it around to see all aspects of the item. This interactive experience helps to empower the customer and give them a level of confidence in their potential purchase.  The more information they receive before their purchase the more they are likely to be satisfied with that product. GeekSpeak’s 360 degree product photos and interactivity enhance online product merchandising and boost conversion in the following important ways:

§  Increase customer’s personal connection and attachment to the product

§  Offer a visually rich experience increases interactivity and emulates the “touch and feel” of the in-store experience

§  Increase buyer confidence by providing more detailed product information with a 360 product view

§  Give buyers control of digital assets and  ownership over the shopping experience

§  Enable more educated purchases; increase satisfaction, reduce returns and exchanges

§  Increase site “stickiness”  and likelihood of conversion

§  Enable a great shopping experience that encourages repeat visits

Visit www.thinkgeekspeak.com/services.html for more.

re: Improve  your non-profit’s website: Six  great ideas

No other sector has felt the impact of shrinking budgets more than the not-for-profit sector. Attracting diminishing funding resources to deliver important programs to stakeholders is an ongoing challenge faced by agencies large and small.  But, there is hope. One of the best tools available to your organization is your website, more than just ‘a brochure on the web’, it can help showcase the great work you do and attract program partners and new donor/sponsors. A strong web presence truly reflects a well-managed and stable organization. 

Here are six simple tips to get more from your online presence.

1.      Add social networking; gain program awareness.

2.      Bring your site to life with program event videos.

3.      Offer program resources right from your site.

4.      Make it easy for supporters to donate from your site.

5.      Recognize you donors.

6.      Present a professional website that truly reflects your organization’s maturity.

Here is a great new website we recently designed and launched for  Inner City Angels in Toronto. (www.innercityangels.ca)

www.thinkgeekspeak.com  Visit for more information.